Tracking My Dog – Shared on the FXF here

Dropbox Download Link Here

TRACKING TIPS
For AF-tracking with CL or CH (focus between each shot), you have to use Mechanical Shutter (MS) only. It doesn’t work with MS+ES (electronic shutter) enabled
+
Turn Off face detection to enable PDAF
+
High Performance Mode ON

_ _ _

A must read in these days is definitely this FXF thread, where people from all over the world, who have installed the “Fujileaks” 4.0 FW, share their findings… which is mostly enthusiastic. Just go through it here and read by yourself.

I have FW 4.0 Beta on my X-T1, and I’m happy with the improved AF-speed (especially on slower lenses like the 35mm). It might be just a Placebo, but I feel like there is less hunting.

And what about AF-Tracking?

Sure, the new Zone AF and Wide Tracking AF are very welcome additions and definitely user-friendly features! But how well do they really work?

I have to say that I’m very happy with my own tracking tests, but personally I’ll set aside my final judgment, for 3 good reasons:

1) I have on my X-T1 some kind of BETA firmware leaked on the web. I don’t know which version it is. The final version might improve it further.
2) I’m not a PRO, and if I try to track ice-skaters, I won’t get the results a skilled photographer can get. Also, AF-Tracking is something I don’t really use normally. For the way I like to shoot, I’m mostly in AF-S or Manual Focus. So I’m not the ideal person, who can test & judge the performance of the Tracking.
3) I would like to see what you can make in different shooting conditions/subjects

That said, I can’t really complaint about the tracking. As you can see from the video I’ve shared here, the Camera has no problems to follow a subject (in this case with Zone Mode). Taking shots in CL (dropbox – my dog running) gave me a high percetage of keepers. As you can see, the AF-system lost my dog on the second shot, but locked on it again in the third shot… tracking it correctly until it run out of the frame.

Also looking at Rico’s FW4 AF Tracking test, there is hardly anything to complaint about it. Another one, who is happy with the new tracking, is FXF member Jean Mareaux (Flickr). He tested it on his dog using the 56mmF1.2 and shared this link to the downloadable images.

Initial Conclusions: :) :) :) .

As said, for the final judgment, I’ll wait the official firmware (if I can install it) and more feedback from other photographers.

AF-Tracking at Fujit youtube – with X-T10

FujiRumors testing AF-speed on 35mmF1.4
Consider that this lens already survived several minutes under water (when I broke my X-E2) – and it still works ;)

_ _ _

So how is that new Firmware ver. 4.0? Well, I can understand the enthusiastic FXF feedback of fellow X-shooter.

Yesterday I’ve tested the 55-200 at the ice rink. Extremely difficult conditions (indoors with bad light conditions, lots of ice-skater, many contrast elements like banners and lines under the ice). I had to use higher ISO in order to keep an acceptable shutter speed. So I’d say a good situation to challenge AF.

Consider: I’m not a Pro (Sport) Photographer. I’m sure many of you will get much better results than mine, with my humble skills… and I tell you, following crazy jumping ice-skaters zoomed all the way in @200 is a real challenge for me!

Zone AF Mode: Initial impression: A real pleasure to use. Tracks very good and smoothly. Due the really unpredictable movements of the ice-skaters, they often went out of my focus area… as soon as I placed them again in the focus area, the camera starts tracking again. I really loved it. I tell you, taking shots of your kids playing soccer with the 55-200? Much easier in future, although not 100% of the shots will be always in focus… at least I wasn’t able, with my limited skills in that particular situation (I never shoot sports). I’ll do more testings… Anyway, a highly appreciated improvement.
Wide Tracking AF: Wide Tracking AF had some problems on the ice rink, due to the many distracting elements (and my amateurish skills). It worked better when zoomed in all the way @200, isolating the subject as much as possible. Nice to have.

The coach of the ice-skaters allowed me to take some pictures to test the FW, but not to share images. All I can do is to share a short video fragment (at the bottom of this post) showing the zone tracking. I had to black out some parts of the video, so take it more as a proof that I did my homework, rather than really showing what the firmware is capable of.

But luckily there is Rico’s FW 4 AF test. See the samples and make up your own mind.

The AF speed has been improved, too.  I’m pretty busy at the moment, so I can not dedicate all the time I’d like to test the Firmware. I did a short video showing the AF speed on the 35mm here (consider that this lens already survived several minutes under water (when I broke my X-E2)… anyway, my 35mm has become faster).

There are other X-shooters who are testing the new BETA firmware on all imaginable lenses. Read all the feedback here. Here just some of them:

– rollypolly: It turned my formerly pokey Zeiss 50mm macro into a speed demon – Here are the ranges for the various shutter modes in the T setting: ES – 1″ to 1/32000 – MS – 30″ to 1/4000 – ES+MS – 30″ to 1/32000
– bashar: “Zeiss 32mm is now hunted by a speed demon! ”
– gavingoh7: Focus finally can said.. Awesome
– felipey: Tested it with the tracking with AF-C on the 50-140mm and it’s much improved. I had trouble locking focus before but now it works as it should have. Overall focusing is much better. I also love using the command dial to change the shutter speed across all ranges in T mode, it’s very nifty.

As you know, the Fuji X-T10 (which is now in stock at AmazonUS, BHphoto and Adorama), has the same AF-system. A video on youtube shows, how if focuses with XF 60mm (the probably slowest focussing lens in the Fujinon line-up). The tester says that the improvement is “massive“.